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1 – 10 of over 1000Kristen Snyder, Pernilla Ingelsson and Ingela Bäckström
This paper aims to explore how leaders can develop value-based leadership for sustainable quality development in Lean manufacturing.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore how leaders can develop value-based leadership for sustainable quality development in Lean manufacturing.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative meta-analysis was conducted using data from a three-year study of Lean manufacturing in Sweden using the Shingo business excellence model as an analytical framework.
Findings
This study demonstrates that leaders can develop value-based leadership to support Lean manufacturing by defining and articulating the organization’s values and accompanying behaviors that are needed to support the strategic direction; creating forums and time for leaders to identify the why behind decisions and reflect on their experiences to be able to lead a transformative process; and using storytelling to create a coaching culture to connect values and behaviors, to the processes and systems of work.
Research limitations/implications
This paper contributes insights for developing value-based leadership to support a systemic approach to sustainable quality development in lean manufacturing. Findings are based on a limited case sample size of three manufacturing companies in Sweden.
Originality/value
The findings were derived using a unique methodological approach combining storytelling, appreciative inquiry and coaching with traditional data collection methods including surveys and interviews to identify, define and shape value-based leadership in Lean manufacturing.
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Alan S. Marcus, Katherine A. Griffith and Francis Gary Powers Jr
In this article, we use the film Bridge of Spies – which depicts the case of U-2 spy pilot Francis Gary Powers – and relevant primary sources, particularly Powers' letters from…
Abstract
Purpose
In this article, we use the film Bridge of Spies – which depicts the case of U-2 spy pilot Francis Gary Powers – and relevant primary sources, particularly Powers' letters from prison, to provide teachers with a case that can engage students with the complexity of the Cold War. Understanding USA–Russia relations is as important today as ever as we watch the tragedy unfold in Ukraine. Using primary sources to reflect on the Cold War can help secondary students understand the historical context of the war in Ukraine as well as how to evaluate and critique sources of information about the war.
Design/methodology/approach
The film and personal letters provide insights often not available or obvious when we focus on the political or military history of an event or time period. The Cold War is frequently defined by the rhetoric of the USA and Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) governments – but everyday people and citizens had a wider range of views and experiences. The film and letters bring out the humanity of the Cold War.
Findings
This article supports secondary teachers in incorporating film and primary sources as teaching tools to study the Cold War while more broadly thinking about these sources as ways to understand the past. The letters used, including those from U-2 spy pilot Francis Gary Powers, help us understand his time in a Soviet prison as well as the behind-the-scenes work to free him as part of a prisoner exchange.
Originality/value
The U-2 Incident and other events of the Cold War provide important context for understanding the Cold War-like tensions between the USA and Russia today. The distrust between these countries has a long history. However, documents like the film and letters discussed here show that there is much more to the bluster of political leaders and the military chess game. There is an important human element to these events and an impact on individuals who are much more than pawns in international diplomacy.
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Chuan Yang, Hui Jin and Chun Zhang
This study investigates the relationship between leaders’ collectivist orientation and employees’ innovative behavior, as well as the mediating effects of employees’ collectivist…
Abstract
Purpose
This study investigates the relationship between leaders’ collectivist orientation and employees’ innovative behavior, as well as the mediating effects of employees’ collectivist orientation and servant leadership.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on a survey of 40 leaders and 219 employees in 12 technologically innovative enterprises in Jiangsu Province, China, a hierarchical linear modeling is used.
Findings
The results show that leaders’ collectivist orientation significantly positively affects employees’ innovative behavior. Moreover, leaders’ collectivist orientation significantly positively affects employees’ collectivist orientation/servant leadership, employees’ collectivist orientation/servant leadership significantly positively affects employees’ innovative behavior, and employees’ collectivist orientation/servant leadership partially mediates the relationship between leaders’ collectivist orientation and employees’ innovative behavior.
Originality/value
In response to the lack of research on the relationship between leadership cultural orientation and employees’ innovative behavior, this study sheds light on the effectiveness and mechanism of the influence of leaders’ collectivist orientation on employees’ innovative behavior, thus expanding and deepening the boundaries of theoretical research on leadership, culture and innovation management.
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Shuyuan Xu, Jun Wang, Xiangyu Wang, Wenchi Shou and Tuan Ngo
This paper covers the development of a novel defect model for concrete highway bridges. The proposed defect model is intended to facilitate the identification of bridge’s…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper covers the development of a novel defect model for concrete highway bridges. The proposed defect model is intended to facilitate the identification of bridge’s condition information (i.e. defects), improve the efficiency and accuracy of bridge inspections by supporting practitioners and even machines with digitalised expert knowledge, and ultimately automate the process.
Design/methodology/approach
The research design consists of three major phases so as to (1) categorise common defect with regard to physical entities (i.e. bridge element), (2) establish internal relationships among those defects and (3) relate defects to their properties and potential causes. A mixed-method research approach, which includes a comprehensive literature review, focus groups and case studies, was employed to develop and validate the proposed defect model.
Findings
The data collected through the literature and focus groups were analysed and knowledge were extracted to form the novel defect model. The defect model was then validated and further calibrated through case study. Inspection reports of nearly 300 bridges in China were collected and analysed. The study uncovered the relationships between defects and a variety of inspection-related elements and represented in the form of an accessible, digitalised and user-friendly knowledge model.
Originality/value
The contribution of this paper is the development of a defect model that can assist inexperienced practitioners and even machines in the near future to conduct inspection tasks. For one, the proposed defect model can standardise the data collection process of bridge inspection, including the identification of defects and documentation of their vital properties, paving the path for the automation in subsequent stages (e.g. condition evaluation). For another, by retrieving rich experience and expert knowledge which have long been reserved and inherited in the industrial sector, the inspection efficiency and accuracy can be considerably improved.
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Salim Elwazani and Sara Khorshidifard
This study examines the public participation in the implementation of the Historic Urban Landscape (HUL), a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization…
Abstract
Purpose
This study examines the public participation in the implementation of the Historic Urban Landscape (HUL), a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) approach for urban development. HUL has six Critical Steps and four Tools Categories relating to community engagement, knowledge and planning, regulatory system and financial instruments. The HUL public participation component has materialized variably across the adopting cities, challenged by the local implementation capacity. In response, we have singled out two research questions revolving around the participants’ characteristics and participation methods.
Design/methodology/approach
This study instrumentalizes case studies as a research methodology and thematic literature as a theoretical context. The HUL projects for Ballarat, Australia and Cuenca, Ecuador have been selected as sources of published information because they exhibit comparative differences in completing community engagement. We have compared the community engagement accounts of the two cities.
Findings
The Ballarat and Cuenca HUL project accounts point out to commonalities and variances in responding to the HUL public participation mandate. The findings for the participants’ characteristics involve project setting, participants categories and participants empowerment; the findings for the participation methods involve initial preparation, domestic and international expertise and public conversation.
Originality/value
The results of the study help define public participation practices in HUL project implementations. The results present an opportunity for city officials, HUL project planners and field administrators for making informed decisions particularly in relation to the two public participation domains, the participants’ characteristics and the engagement methods.
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Joshua L. Kenna and Dennis Mathew Stevenson
Geography is an exciting discipline involving the interrogation of place, space, and mobility. Film is too powerful and assessable tool that engages audiences. Therefore, this…
Abstract
Purpose
Geography is an exciting discipline involving the interrogation of place, space, and mobility. Film is too powerful and assessable tool that engages audiences. Therefore, this article builds a rationale for utilizing film in the teaching of geography. Particularly geographic mobility, which is the study of spatial patterns of movement and viewing them with positive or negative social meaning and as embedded within structures of power.
Design/methodology/approach
This is not a research paper so there is no methodology to detail.
Findings
This is not a research paper so there are no findings to detail.
Originality/value
The article introduces three films (Selma, Hidden Figures, and The Green Book) and describes how they can be used to enrich the teaching of geographic mobility.
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Marya Tabassum, Muhammad Mustafa Raziq and Naukhez Sarwar
Agile project teams are self-managing and self-organizing teams, and these two characteristics are pivotal attributes of emergent leadership. Emergent leadership is thus common in…
Abstract
Purpose
Agile project teams are self-managing and self-organizing teams, and these two characteristics are pivotal attributes of emergent leadership. Emergent leadership is thus common in agile teams – however, how these (informal) emergent leaders can be identified in teams remains far from understood. The purpose of this research is to uncover techniques that enable top management to identify emergent agile leaders.
Methodology/design
We approached six agile teams from four organizations. We employ social network analysis (SNA) and aggregation approaches to identify emergent agile leaders.
Design/methodology/approach
We approached six agile teams from four organizations. We employ SNA and aggregation approaches to identify emergent agile leaders.
Findings
Seven emergent leaders are identified using the SNA and aggregation approaches. The same leaders are also identified using the KeyPlayer algorithms. One emergent leader is identified from each of the five teams, for a total of five emergent leaders from the five teams. However, two emergent leaders are identified for the remaining sixth team.
Originality/value
Emergent leadership is a relatively new phenomenon where leaders emerge from within teams without having a formal leadership assigned role. A challenge remains as to how such leaders can be identified without any formal leadership status. We contribute by showing how network analysis and aggregation approaches are suitable for the identification of emergent leadership talent within teams. In addition, we help advance leadership research by describing the network behaviors of emergent leaders and offering a way forward to identify more than one emergent leader in a team. We also show some limitations of the approaches used and offer some useful insights.
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The academic–practitioner gap has been a widely discussed and well-established issue. Despite numerous studies conducted in this area, empirical evidence reveals that the gap is…
Abstract
Purpose
The academic–practitioner gap has been a widely discussed and well-established issue. Despite numerous studies conducted in this area, empirical evidence reveals that the gap is widening and also emphasizes the exigency to bridge this gap. Hence, the purpose of this study is to propose an acceptable solution that will fill this lacuna.
Design/methodology/approach
The study adopts the qualitative research methodology and was based on the system theory (ST) and the institutional theory (IT). Interviews, based on a semi-structured questionnaire, were conducted, focusing on three categories, namely individuals with solely academic experience, individuals with both academic and industrial exposure and business leaders. The unit of analysis was the individual.
Findings
The study, which unearthed some rich and challenging evidence from the respondents, reveals that gaining industrial exposure and working on continuous professional development are vital for academics to narrow or even close this gap. In addition, serving as apex members at board level or in professional bodies, serving global organizations as lead consultants and working on research collaborations are other important dimensions for academics.
Practical implications
This study introduces an emerging model named the “Pentagon Model” and develops a corporate index (C-index) for academics to earn, similar to the h-index. The study also explains the operationalization of the C-index based on the proposed algorithm. Hence, it is the envisaged that this study will change the landscape of the academic sphere in practical terms.
Originality/value
This study was carried out with the sole intention of bridging the gap between academics and practitioners. The proposed model and the index, which were developed by the author purely based on the outcome of this study, pave the way for many future research studies, not only to further improve the C-index but also to minimize disparities in transdisciplinary work between academics and practitioners.
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Mehreen Malik, Muhammad Mustafa Raziq, Naukhez Sarwar and Madiha Gohar
We explore the skills required for digital leadership for reshaping existing business models toward digital models. Digital leadership is pivotal in gaining a competitive…
Abstract
Purpose
We explore the skills required for digital leadership for reshaping existing business models toward digital models. Digital leadership is pivotal in gaining a competitive advantage and achieving successful digital transformation. However, little is known with regard to the underlying mechanisms related to digital leadership and transformation.
Design/methodology/approach
Data are collected through semi-structured interviews involving 20 participants from five Pakistani textile companies. Thematic analysis was employed as a data analysis tool.
Findings
Findings show that certain skills such as technological know-how, innovativeness, adaptability, ability to lead and steer, honesty, integrity, transformative vision, communication and collaboration are conducive to successful digital transformation in textile manufacturing firms. Similarly, digital leaders can significantly enhance business model innovation, create value for the firm, help develop new products (value proposition) and create Ecosystem partnerships (value network).
Originality/value
This article bridges gaps between existing literature on digital transformation and leadership. Digital leadership skills for digital transformation and the role of digital leaders in business model innovation have not been explored before. The conceptual framework is put forth, propositions are proposed and the findings offer some future research directions.
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Khodor Shatila, Frank Boateng Agyei and Wassim J. Aloulou
This study aims to examine the impact of transformational leadership on leadership effectiveness and the mediating effect of emotional skills in this relationship.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine the impact of transformational leadership on leadership effectiveness and the mediating effect of emotional skills in this relationship.
Design/methodology/approach
The study used quantitative methodology, collecting data from 350 respondents from the Lebanese context. The data were analysed using AMOS for structural equation modelling.
Findings
Results indicated that transformational leadership positively impacts leadership effectiveness, and this relationship is partially mediated by emotional skills. Specifically, adaptability, assertiveness and relationship management partially mediate the relationship of transformational leadership to leadership effectiveness. The findings suggest that leaders who possess emotional skills, especially those related to adaptability, assertiveness and relationship management, can be more effective in their roles by inspiring and motivating their followers through transformational leadership.
Research limitations/implications
The study relies on self-reported data, which can introduce potential biases such as social desirability bias and subjectivity. The study uses a cross-sectional design, which hinders establishing causal relationships or examining changes over time.
Practical implications
This study highlights the significance of transformational leadership on leadership effectiveness and its potential benefits on emotional skills as a mediator in this relationship.
Originality/value
The research is unique and provides potential contribution to the Lebanese context.
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